Men seek out retreats for themselves in the country, by the seaside, on the mountains... But all this is unphilosophical to the last degree... when thou canst at a moment's notice retire into thyself. (Marcus Aurelius)

During [these] periods of relaxation after concentrated intellectual activity, the intuitive mind seems to take over and can produce the sudden clarifying insights which give so much joy and delight. (Fritjof Capra)

I had a month off, sort of, this summer. I had this great idea of just lying by the pool doing nothing, like any other girl. But, for one thing, I can't stop thinking, and for another, I was in Lebanon. This year's bombing raids started the day after I arrived. (Zaha Hadid)

I'm going to just sit down for a couple of weeks and do nothing but read who-dunnits and Art books. I feel my work is getting a bit dull and mechanical and this proposed resting should work up some enthusiasm in me. (E. J. Hughes)

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. (John Lubbock)

Fear of relaxation would explain why people who sincerely try relaxation therapies... do not experience any improvement in their anxiety... Some people rarely take vacation or, if they do, it is a short one accompanied by a blackberry. (Debbie Mandel)

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject-matter, an art which might be for every mental worker, be he businessman or writer, like an appeasing influence, like a mental soother, something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue. (Henri Matisse)

Often when one works at a hard question, nothing good is accomplished at the first attack. Then one takes a rest, longer or shorter, and sits down anew to the work. During the first half-hour, as before, nothing is found, and then all of a sudden the decisive idea presents itself to the mind. (Rollo May)

There was a long weathered carpenter's bench under the tall tree in front of the little old house that Lawrence had lived in there. I often lay on that bench looking up into the tree... past the trunk and up into the branches. It was particularly fine at night with the stars above the tree. (Georgia O'Keeffe)

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. (Leonardo da Vinci)